The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant, also called the Oceanside Treatment Plant, is a wastewater treatment plant operated by the

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is a public agency of the City and County of San Francisco that provides water, wastewater, and electric power services to the city and an additional 1.9 million customers within three San Franc ...

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. The award-winning facility is noted for its mostly underground construction inside a hollowed-out hill. It is between Ocean Beach and Lake Merced in the far-southwest corner of the city, near the

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and the California National Guard. Oceanside is a secondary treatment plant handling about 20% of the city's wastewater from one-third of the city's residents. Its maximum capacity is per day, with an average daily dry weather flow of . It discharges treated water about offshore into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Construction on the , facility began in January 1990 and was completed in June 1994. 70% of the structure is underground, covered with of earth and landscaping.

Renaming proposal

In 2008, a voter group called the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco proposed the facility be renamed the George W. Bush Sewage Plant in faux honor of the forty-third U.S. president,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. By summer 2008, the effort had received a sustained burst of coverage from local and prominent national and international print and broadcast outlets. The proposal received 11,999 signatures, while only 7,168 were required for the measure. It appeared as Proposition R on the November 4, 2008 ballot, to become effective on 20 January 2009. Organizer Brian McConnell stated the reasons for the ballot proposal and renaming. :'' Fifty years from now in a civics class, students will learn about the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...

, that other presidents are on Mount Rushmore – and George W. Bush got a sewage plant. It will prompt people to ask why, and they can discuss the

Iraq war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, and everything that led to it. People want to forget the bad moments of history, and this is our way of making sure that doesn't happen.'' In response to a question on the White House reaction to the proposal, Press Secretary

Dana Perino Dana Marie Perino (born May 9, 1972) is an American political commentator and author who served as the 26th White House Press Secretary, under President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007, to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White ...

noted that it did not "

ignify Ignify was an ERP, CRM, POS and e-commerce software company headquartered in Long Beach, California with more than 500 employees in 8 countries. Ignify's tagline is "Igniting Ideas. Delivering Results." Ignify was founded by Sandeep Walia and Pa ...

a response." The official argument against Proposition R in the voter handbook had suggested that, given the total amount of the federal debt at the end of the Bush Administration, "Maybe it would be more appropriate to name the local bankruptcy court or a consumer credit counseling center after Bush?" The proposal failed by a wide margin with 70 percent voting no at the polls.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 37.727637, -122.504766, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Sewage treatment plants in California Government buildings in San Francisco Government of San Francisco Environment of the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Bay watershed Infrastructure completed in 1994 1994 establishments in California